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6 - Biodiversity status of coastal dune forests in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

By
Rudi J. van Aarde ,
Robert A. R. Guldemond  and
Pieter I. Olivier
Edited by
Brooke Maslo  and
Julie L. Lockwood
Rudi J. van Aarde
Affiliation:
University of Pretoria
Robert A. R. Guldemond
Affiliation:
University of Pretoria
Pieter I. Olivier
Affiliation:
University of Pretoria
Brooke Maslo
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Julie L. Lockwood
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
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Summary

Introduction

People tend to settle close to the sea and hence place disproportionate pressure on coastlines and associated habitats, such as dune forests. Dune forests, by definition, are limited to a narrow belt along a coastline. Edge effects, area limitations, isolation, and the ebb and flow of climatic conditions accentuate the sensitivity of dune forests to human-made disturbances, which may put extraordinary pressures on the species living within them. This also holds for South Africa, where some 20 million people (40% of the population) live within 100 km of the coast (Department of Environmental Affairs, http://www.environment.gov.za/). Associated economic development and reliance on natural resources transform and fragment coastal landscapes and bring about habitat loss that may challenge the persistence of species (Arthurton et al., 2006).

Coastal forests in South Africa are relatively young (Lawes, 1990), harbor few endemic species (van Wyk & Smith, 2001), are naturally fragmented and embedded in matrices of contrasting landscapes (Berliner, 2009). By designation, coastal forests are sensitive to disturbance, but relatively high ecological resilience provides for their potential to recover following the withdrawal of these stressors (van Aarde et al., 1996; Wassenaar et al., 2005; Grainger et al., 2011). Protecting or restoring dune forests to meet conservation targets or to regain ecosystem services makes sense but calls for an evaluation of the prevailing status, as well as identifying the threats and opportunities related to aspects of their biological diversity. We address these issues here.

Type
Chapter
Information
Coastal Conservation , pp. 161 - 179
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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